Do ducks really come down when a cold front passes?

In my experience in SWLA over the last 5 years fronts don’t matter. Hunted last Friday day of the front and it sucked (which recently has been the opposite experience). Hunted Saturday post front with no wind and fog and slayed.

This front about appears one for the record books. I’ll be damned if it doesn’t move ducks. I’ve broken ice for empty skies before.

My current thought: who the frick knows. They are wild animals with changing migration patterns.

It's not just about the front coming through but what it does up north of us. Cold air isn't going to make a duck move. Cold air combined with frozen water and several inches of snow will.

A duck needs food and cover to survive through the winter. If he has those, he's not going anywhere.

I was telling a coworker earlier this week that there will be all sorts of people complaining at the end of the season when ducks are stacked like cordwood after this arctic blast that's coming.

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. I think Cowboyfan said it perfectly. Either way, I’m almost always going to choose to sit in the duck blind if the wind is decent after a good front. I saw more ducks than I’ve seen in a long time after the one we had right before Christmas last year.

Of the 5 best(non opening day) hunts I’ve had in the last 25 years 4 were in short sleeve weather. But dem Yankees was cold.


Freezes of 83 and 89 pushed down absolute mother lode of ducks.


Last years and 2017 freezes were trickles.

I think this one will. As was stated it has to be a combination of snow and cold. The snow that the mid west and up the river got the last couple of days combined with the cold air coming might just move the.

We can all hope!

Gotta check the weather up north through the Midwest. If it's freezing up there, denying ducks access to food/water (frozen ground/water, snow covering up food, etc.), they'll be on the move. Otherwise, they'll sit tight.

As for the front itself, yes, IF the above conditions are being met, they'll take the opportunity to ride the north wind southward. It's a lot easier on them and allows them to conserve energy (the reason they're on the move in the first place...food = energy) vs. trying to buck a headwind.

I get to watch rice fields every day from my porch. 2021 was special. They were landing dry ground back there.

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Jan 6 2017, evening hunt

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I had a photo pop up on my phone memories from that day. I rushed out of work early to get to the blind. The ducks were stupid. Winter precip and just cold. Got my 4 mallards and 2 greys in 30 minutes. Ducks all over. Next morning it was the exact opposite.

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Gotta check the weather up north through the Midwest. If it's freezing up there, denying ducks access to food/water (frozen ground/water, snow covering up food, etc.), they'll be on the move. Otherwise, they'll sit tight.

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This. Really need snow cover to push ducks now. This front is supposed to deliver that. Ducks really don't move much if it just locks up for a bit. They will sit tight if they can still get to food. We went to OK in January of '21 and it was single digits for multiple days. Everything was locked up. The only way we could hunt water was ice eaters. It was decent hunting until the last day when it was epic but that's only because the spot we hunted was the roost pond that wasn't even open but frozen solid. At least 5,000 were just standing on the ice overnight. We busted a small corner and hunted over the ice that morning.

I will say last year after the Christmas lock down it good real good in NE LA for a while after. Actually had the first steady push of Mallards that I can remember in the woods in maybe the last 10 years. I mean it wasn't mid 90's level good but we were killing 8-12 every hunt plus our Woodrows. Fingers crossed this front does that but my concern s there still isn't a ton of water to hold them. If the river gets up and floods Mollicy than maybe they will stick around. Regardless, I am hunting up in NE LA this weekend. Thanks to MLK I will hunt Monday too and depending on action maybe more.

it will make the ducks moves now move where I dunno. Alot of ppl love them dark, rainy overcast days where I hate those days. My best days are sunny Blue bird skies!